Oaklands Mansion is an historic house museum located in

Murfreesboro Murfreesboro is a city in Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Its population was 165,430 according to the 2023 census estimate, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010 United States census, 2010. Murfreesboro i ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Oaklands is on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

and is a local landmark known for its unique

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

design. The plantation was caught in the middle of the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

and officers from both the

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

and

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Unio ...

armies stayed in the mansion. The most notable visitor to the home was Confederate President

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...

, who stayed at Oaklands December 12–15, 1862 accompanied by his aid

George Washington Custis Lee George Washington Custis Lee (September 16, 1832 – February 18, 1913), also known as Custis Lee, was the eldest son of Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee. His grandfather, George Washington Parke Custis was the grandson of Marth ...

, son of Confederate General

Robert Edward Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, who was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army toward the end of the war. He led the Army of No ...

. Other notable visitors were former United States First Lady Sarah Childress Polk, United States Senator from Tennessee and the 1860 Constitutional Union Party's nominee for President of the United States John Bell, Confederate General

Braxton Bragg Braxton Bragg (March 22, 1817 – September 27, 1876) was an American army Officer (armed forces), officer during the Second Seminole War and Mexican–American War and Confederate General officers in the Confederate States Army, general in th ...

, Confederate Lieutenant-Genera

Leonidas Polk Lieutenant-General Leonidas Polk (April 10, 1806 – June 14, 1864) was a Confederate general, a bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana and founder of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America, which separat ...

, Confederate Naval Commander

Matthew Fontaine Maury Matthew Fontaine Maury (January 14, 1806February 1, 1873) was an American oceanographer and naval officer, serving the United States and then joining the Confederacy during the American Civil War. He was nicknamed "Pathfinder of the Seas" and ...

and Confederate Brigadier-General

George Maney Brigadier-General George Earl Maney (August 24, 1826 – February 9, 1901) was an American soldier, politician, railroad executive and diplomat. He was a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War and a reconstructio ...

. During the First Battle of Murfreesboro on July 13, 1862, Confederate cavalrymen under

Nathan Bedford Forrest Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821October 29, 1877) was an List of slave traders of the United States, American slave trader, active in the lower Mississippi River valley, who served as a General officers in the Confederate States Army, Con ...

surprised and defeated Federal forces encamped on the front lawn of the Mansion, near the plantation's spring and at the Rutherford County Courthouse as part of a raid on Union-occupied Murfreesboro. It is said that Lewis and Adaline Maney's children watched the fighting from the window of the second-floor hallway. After the surrender was signed, both armies gathered for a meal of black-eyed peas and sweet potatoes. Colonel William Ward Duffield of the 9th Michigan Infantry, was severely wounded and captured by the Confederates during the early part of the battle. He was taken into the house and nursed by the Maney family. At noon the same day he was made prisoner by Forrest, but, in his then helpless condition, he was released upon his parole and promised not to bear arms against the Confederate States until regularly exchanged. Mrs. Duffield was a guest in the Maney home while her husband recovered for several months. The Duffields and the Maneys became friends during the Colonel's recuperation. After the war, the Duffields presented the Maneys with a silver tea service in gratitude for their hospitality and care of the Colonel. The last residential owner of Oaklands, Rebecca Jetton, moved out of the house in the 1950s when she could no longer maintain it. The abandoned mansion was vandalized and left in disrepair. The city of Murfreesboro acquired it in 1958 with the intention of tearing it down. However, the mansion was restored to its original grandeur by a group of women who rallied together to form the Oaklands Association. The home was opened to the public as a museum in the early 1960s and now receives thousands of visitors annually and is used for various public and private functions.

References

External links

Oaklands Mansion website
Historic house museums in Tennessee Houses in Rutherford County, Tennessee Museums in Rutherford County, Tennessee Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee National Register of Historic Places in Rutherford County, Tennessee {{Tennessee-museum-stub

See also

References

External links